Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak. I thank Sinn Féin for facilitating this very important debate. I agree with the motion, but I have a different angle I wish to raise. We are talking about tackling the cost of living, which has gone up exorbitantly because of the cost of fuel - diesel, petrol and home heating oil. We know that this has gone up worldwide, but the tax take is bigger. The Minister has left the Chamber. The tax take has increased. I again ask the Government to forgo the increase and to give it back, so as to give working people a chance. People in rural Ireland have to travel to work and they must have a car in order to do that. Regardless of what the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, thinks about bicycles and other things, people need cars in order to get to work. Transport costs have gone through the roof. No heed has been given to the lorry men and the plight they are in. The diesel rebate should be increased, and the Government should forgo the extra tax.

What is the Government trying to do but to raise the carbon tax again? Diesel costs for farmers have doubled. Fertiliser costs have trebled. Because the Greens hate the farmers, they will do nothing for them. God and his mother know that the cost of food will go up when the farmers' costs go up.

I want to raise another thing. A poor old man rang me today. He rang the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, about the wonderful grants for heating homes. He asked what he was entitled to. The SEAI looked for his address and his date of birth. He was told that he got a grant for attic insulation about ten years ago and a grant to fill the cavity walls. He wanted external and internal insulation, but he was told he would not qualify.

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